The price for doing what you’re told

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Well, they were only doing as they were bade by Nicolas Sarkozy. European
Central Bank data released yesterday shows the extent to which its cheap
three-year money was used in March by Spanish and Italian banks to load up
on eurozone sovereign debt: some €20.1 billion and €23.7 billion,
respectively.

The danger for Spain, in particular, is how much appetite its banks retain for
its debt. Santander and BBVA, two of the Spanish banks downgraded by
Standard & Poor’s yesterday, have hinted that they will not buy any more
debt this year. If that happens, unless other buyers emerge, Spain’s